Mikhail Youzhny Wins Malaysian Open Final

Mikhail Youzhny came through a tough three set final, in which there were two tie breaks, against Andrey Golubev to lift the Malaysian Open.

It was a seventh ATP World Tour title for the Russian but he was made to fight for the win as he fought back from a set down.

And Youzhny has not had an easy week as he has been pushed to three sets in all of his matches and he was going the distance once again when Golubev took a tight first set tie breaker.

Golubev let an early break slip by and was put under pressure in that tie break, holding off three match points, to finally take the opening set.

Into the second and Youzhny hit straight back as a double break saw him open up a 5-1 lead. And while Golubev did get one of the breaks back it wasn't enough as Youzhny broke for the third time to level the match at a set a piece.

Golubev got his game back under control in the final set but neither man could forge a break point and a second tie break was needed to decide the winner.

But it was the experience of Youzhny that saw him through that final set breaker as he dominated play to take it 7-3 and wrap up a 6-7(7 9), 6-2, 7-6(7-3) win to lift the title.

Speaking to the ATP after the match he said: "It was four very tough matches for me. It was my first tournament indoors after the US Open Series and for me it was good.

"I cannot say I showed by best tennis here, but, although it’s good when you show your best tennis and win the tournament, it’s probably better sometimes when you don’t show your really best game but you have a really good result."

Youzhny will be back in action this week at the China Open, where is the seventh seed.

FemaleFirst Helen Earnshaw